Keeping Face
by Beforeyouknow
Summary: How would the world change if Jane met Garrus fifteen years earlier? Would he follow in the footsteps of his father, and would she join Alliance?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Jane Shepard was fifteen years old. Her hair was dark and curly, and she was an Alliance brat to the bones. She went everywhere her mother did, always fascinated by the new sights and people she encountered. Military life was all Shepard had ever known. To other children, it might have seemed strange living on a ship with so many adults, but she'd come to know and love her mother's crew. They were like an extended family.

Today was not going to be a particularly eventful day; Hannah Shepard had been assigned the difficult task of maintaining diplomacy with the turian hierarchy, and it was bound to be a boring day filled with talking and negotiations. But she'd never seen Palaven before.

The planet looked gray and green as she watched their descent through a window in the main cabin. She stared at it in awe. It didn't look too different from Earth, but without the giant oceans.

"Jane, did you want to stay on the ship this time?"

She grinned over her shoulder at her mother, whose arms were crossed as she leaned into one hip. "Not a chance."

Hannah sighed, shaking her head. "You know you're going to be bored during the meetings, and I won't have you playing on your omni-tool. This is a serious matter, and we must be as respectful as possible."

"Fine, but I'm still going. I want to see their sky."

"What _is _it with you and the sky?"

She shrugged. "I don't know, I just like to see all the different ways space can look when I'm planetside. It's always so different from when we're out here among the stars."

"Alright, do what you must." She turned to debrief her crew, throwing a firm, "No 'tool!" over her shoulder as her daughter rolled her eyes.

"Yes, Mother."

* * *

She stepped off the ramp and onto what appeared to be shining dirt. She stared down at the silver gravel, and was tempted to pinch up a sample, but she didn't want to embarrass her mom. There was limited vegetation; mostly they were surrounded by enormous silver buildings. The architecture was ornate, curving into sharp spikes and harsh edges thst captivated Jane's eyes. Palaven was unlike any planet she'd seen before.

Hannah hurried down the ramp to greet the three politicians. Jane had seen turians before at the colonies she'd visited, but not often. She'd always thought they looked sort of angry. These turians were no exception, but they used the human greeting and shook Hannah's hand politely, and turned to lead her to the board room. Jane followed in step behind Hadley and Johnson, trying to look as professional as possible. Her mother had taken the two crew members as a precaution, but they weren't heavily armed. Jane was trusting, but the sight of so many aliens was slightly unnerving, and she stuck closely behind the two soldiers she knew well.

It was a short walk to the building, not even a hundred yards, but Jane was already covered in a sheen of sweat by the time they reached it. This planet was hot. She could already feel her pale skin start to ache, just like it did whenever she was getting a sunburn. Her mother, right as always, had insisted that she wear a hazard suit, but Jane always refused to wear one unless she had to. A little sunburn wouldn't kill her. As they entered the gleaming structure, vanishing into blissfully cool shade, Jane noticed the pale orange sky above her and smiled.

The meeting was, as predicted, boring. Some argument about whether or not the turian Spectre Saren was mentally stable. Apparently someone named Anderson had already launched a complaint against Saren to the Council, but they hadn't listened. Hannah had told her daughter that if they could convince these politicians that Saren was crazy, they would back her when she confronted the turian councillor alone. If a councillor the same race as the renegade Spectre wouldn't vouch for him, the asari and salarian councillors wouldn't either. It was all a big ploy, a game they played to advance the power of their own races. The other two would turn on Saren in an instant if he didn't have the support of the turian councillor.

Jane could tell her mother was having a hard time selling her argument. She wasn't listening to the specifics, but the turians all looked upset and were talking over each other as Hannah watched passively from her chair, sighing at the indignity of politics. Unable to focus, Jane let her gaze wander the room. There were a few other turians standing behind the three that were talking. Their colors ranged from gray to reddish brown, and only the officials wore ceremonial robes. The others wore armor.

Jane's eyes locked briefly with one of the ones in the back. He was shorter than the others, just a child. She looked away quickly, trying not to stare. She'd never seen a young turian before. He couldn't have been any older than her, yet he wore armor like the others. After a moment she glanced back. He was looking to his side at one of the other armored turians anxiously, but the man ignored him. He ducked his head slightly, but glanced back at Jane. This time she held his gaze, cocking an eyebrow at him with a curious smile. He coughed and looked away.

"Let's take a break and cool down for a moment," Hannah was interjecting, and the turians grumbled in response, but turned away. A few left the room.

"How's it going, Mom?" Jane asked, only slightly interested in the proceedings.

"Not well," Hannah replied glumly. "They don't feel very compelled to see reason. We could be here for another few hours."

Jane sighed. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

"Hey." Hannah was whispering now, and there was a mischievous grin on her face. "That boy was looking at you the whole time."

"No. Mom, please don't."

"What? I can tell you're bored to tears. Why don't you go talk to that nice boy? You never get to meet people your age."

"Mom, I don't want -"

"Jane, promise me you will either sit up and look professional or leave the room. This is going to be harder than I thought, and I don't need you slouching and staring off into space. Appearances -"

"I know, I know, appearances are everything. Fine, I'll leave, okay?"

She walked out of the board room and into the lobby area they'd passed through on the way in and slumped in one of the chairs. The seat was hard and made of metal. To a turian, it probably would have been comfortable, but it hurt her back. She looked up and saw, standing just a few feet in front of her, the boy from inside. He was next to two adults who seemed to be deep in conversation. He looked as bored as Jane felt. After a moment, he shook his head and walked over to Jane, easing into the chair beside her.

"This is stupid."

His subharmonics were strange, sort of high-pitched. He was definitely a child.

Jane snorted. "Tell me about it. It's like this every time."

"Every time?" he echoed.

"My mom's Hannah Shepard," she explained. "Alliance Navy. I go with her on most of her missions."

"Wow." He sounded genuinely impressed. "That must be exciting."

"Not really. She mostly just talks to people, like this. I get to travel a lot, but that's about it."

"Have you ever shot anyone?"

She balked at the question. "Of course not! How old do you think I am? I can't join Alliance for another three years, and then it's another two at least in training."

"Oh," he said, disappointed.

"Uh, have you?"

"No, not yet. But I start my training in a few weeks."

"What training?" she asked.

"For the military. Every turian has to join."

"That's pretty intense."

"I guess," he shrugged. "Seems weird to me that humans don't have to."

He was so... young. "Are you scared?"

He gave her a perplexed look. "Why would I be? I'm just looking forward to doing something more interesting than this." He gestured at the board room wih one hand.

"Like what?"

"My dad wants me to join C-Sec," he said, glancing up at one of the turians in front of them, "But I don't know. I like the idea of making criminals pay, but I sort of want to travel around. Like you do."

She smiled. "Maybe I could tell you about it sometime."

"Yeah, I -"

"Son," the gray turian in front of them chastized, "let's go. I don't want them waiting on us."

"Right away, Dad."

The older turian walked inside, and the boy looked back at Jane.

"Do you have an omni-tool?"

"Yeah." She pulled the hidden device from her pocket and slipped it on.

He clicked a few buttons and shared his contact information with her 'tool. "Here's my address. I have to go."

He hurried out of the room.

"I'm Jane, by the way," she called.

He paused in the doorway. "Garrus Vakarian." He grinned crookedly, then vanished.

* * *

(A/N): Yay, new story! What do you think so far? This won't be main cannon. I believe I'll be taking some drastic liberties with the plot, hopefully in a good way.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Jane opened her omni-tool that evening and typed out her first message to her new friend Garrus.

* * *

_Date: 29.11.69 at 18:44_

_**Jshep54**: Hey, it's Jane. From the meeting earlier. What's with the screen name? _

_**Darkangel**: Don't laugh, okay? My mom used to call me Angel._

_**Jshep54**: Ok, ok, I'm not laughing. I promise._

_**Jshep54**: What did you want to talk about anyway?_

_**Darkangel**: Weren't you going to tell me about all the awesome places you've been to?_

_**Jshep54**:Wait, wasn't that a pretense?_

_**Darkangel**: ...For what?_

_**Jshep54**: Nevermind, it's not important. So, have you ever seen the Citadel?_

* * *

At first, they didn't talk much, only exchanging a few messages. She briefly described some of the more interesting colonies she'd been to, and his responses were quick and concise. It changed when he started his training. Garrus described to her the brutal exercises involved in military life, the constant feeling of exhaustion. Instead of typing the lengthy messages, they would exchange voice recordings or vids. Jane noticed the coloring in his plates looked washed out, and he seemed worn. Clearly the physical demands were taking a toll on him.

Jane began to take pictures of the places she went to cheer him up, and it seemed to work. Even just a few shots of the ship's control panels made his face light up. However, she'd gotten in some serious trouble with her mother for that. Apparently Alliance technology was not to be shared with other races, even if it was a simple snapshot.

After a few months of the training, Garrus looked much better in the vids he sent her. He seemed happier now. He talked about his father a fair amount, describing the man as loving but strict. Those qualities reminded Jane of her own mother. They laughed together, comparing their overbearing parents and competing over who had it worse.

"Maybe we could set them up," Jane suggested jokingly one day.

His voice-reply came back instantly, like always. "You mean like a couple?" He sounded horrified.

Jane was offended. "What's wrong with that? Humans and turians can get married." She pressed the 'send' button with extra force.

"I know, I just think if my dad and your mom did, they'd become an unstoppable force."

She laughed at his reply. "Not to mention you'd be my brother. Maybe you could even travel around with us."

His response took a moment this time. "Yeah," he finally replied wistfully. "That would be nice."

They talked frequently over the next few years. He became a part of her big, strange family, and even chatted with her mother on ocassion when Hannah passed by Jane during the holo conversations. Then Jane finally joined the Alliance, and understood why Garrus' training had been so hard on him. Fourteen-hour days of exercise left little time for anything aside from eating and sleeping, which she always felt she didn't do enough of. They were honing her biotics too, so her caloric intake increased to twice as much as she normally ate, and she always felt tired. These days her hair fell limply behind her neck in a sloppy ponytail instead of curling around her face like it used to. When she found the time to contact Garrus, he seemed worried about her. The years had brought them closer together, and he noticed the dramatic change in her energy.

Possibly the strangest part about her training was that she was no longer aboard her mother's ship. The crew she'd known nearly all her life was no longer around, and she was bunked with complete strangers. She missed seeing the familiar faces, and she missed the rush of stepping out of the ship and onto new ground. Being in one place for longer than a few days was eerie to Jane.

Still, she made it through, and after three years of physical refinement, it was a relief to finally be able to talk to her friend more often. He had changed since the start of her training. She supposed she wasn't the same sentimental young girl she'd been when she met him, but his changes seemed more pronounced. He was much more level-headed, and the slight nervousness she'd seen in him years before had been replaced with confidence and determination. She was surprised to hear that he planned to take his father's advice and join C-Sec, as he had always sounded somewhat reluctant to in the past. Perhaps the years had worn down his resistance to the path his father had laid out for him.

"You look better," he observed by holo a few weeks after she'd finished training.

"Yeah? I've been getting some decent sleep lately."

"Good. It's nice to see you like this. You looked like hell before."

"Says the guy who looks like something from a horror vid," she shot back, and he laughed.

"Anyway, what are you doing now?"

"Well, I'm leaving the Citadel sometime next week. I've been assigned. Then I'll try to work my way through the ranks, until I can get a ship, like my mom did, so I can keep traveling."

"No, I was asking what you're doing right now." He sounded amused.

She wrinkled her nose in confusion. "I'm just in my apartment. The only thing I'm doing is talking to you. Why did you - hold on, someone's knocking. I'll be right back."

She clicked the button to hold the conversation and went to the door, opening it. Garrus stood before her, smirking as he leaned against the door frame.

"Holy shit!"

She threw her arms around him and he laughed.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me. How are you here?"

"I started with C-Sec today," he replied, still smiling as they pulled apart. "Got your address from your mom, so I thought I'd drop by and check up on you."

"I haven't seen you since you were a kid. You got _tall._"

"And you... didn't."

She shoved him slightly, grinning. "Well? How was your first day?"

He shrugged. "Seemed alright. I couldn't really concentrate through all the regulations they spouted off. That, and I couldn't wait to see the dumb look on your face when I showed up here."

"Yeah, well I hope it was everything you dreamed of, because it's not that easy to surprise me."

"I'm going to take that as a challenge," he countered, beaming.

They spoke for a few more hours before he regretfully admitted that he needed to book a hotel room. Having arrived earlier that morning, he hadn't had a chance to look for an apartment yet.

"Stay with me," she blurted.

His brow plates raised. "Jane?"

Her cheeks flushed and she hoped he hadn't misinterpreted her meaning. "Uh, my lease is up next week, and you could take over the payments here. And you can crash here instead of paying for a hotel."

"Where would I sleep?"

"I have a couch," she mumbled lamely.

He smiled. "Alright, I'm sold."

* * *

(A/N): Holo = holographic image. Not sure if this was abbreviated in the game, but I like it that way. I'm not thrilled with skipping over 6 years in one chapter, but what can I say? I'm an impatient writer. Updates will not always be this frequent, so I apologize in advance for that.

Response to V: Actually, I really enjoy the process of changing their characters. I really identified with the Shepard from The Common Enemy, but I'm not sure many people would. I think of her and Jane from this story as totally independent characters with different backgrounds, so it is easy for me to keep their personalities separate. I don't think I'll let you down with this story; I have nothing dark planned for them, just adventure and friendship. Which, hopefully, will not be as boring as it sounds. :)


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

She did not think this through. Garrus had become Shepard's best friend over the years, but she'd only met him in person once. Now, suddenly, she was living with an alien. Their cultures were vastly different, and it created more than a few awkward situations between the two old friends.

The second night Garrus stayed with Jane, she walked through the living room in her nightclothes to grab a glass of water and he paled visibly at the sight of her, covering his eyes with his hand.

"Uh, Jane? Why are you naked?"

"Naked? I'm wearing a tank top and shorts!"she objected."These are my pajamas."

"Are you sure?" he asked nervously. "It looks really, um, revealing."

She stared at him incredulously. "You've never seen human legs or arms before?"

"Well, ah -"

"Seriously? I'm not indecent. Stop covering your eyes!"

"I don't want to."

She marched toward him and attempted to pry his hands from his eyes, but he was stronger.

"Aah, get off!"

"No! Look at me, dammit!"

"You can't make me!"

After it became clear that she was only making him more uncomfortable, she gave up with an angry sigh and stormed into the kitchen.

* * *

"You're sharing an apartment with him?"

Jane pinched the bridge of her nose between her fingers. Her mother was giving her a headache. "No, Mom, it's not like that," she explained impatiently to the holo.

"Last I heard you were more interested in guns than boys, and now you moved in with him?"

"Fuck, Mom, I said it's not like that."

"Honey, watch your language."

"Yeah, I know. But I'm not... Er, with him. He's just staying here so he doesn't have to crash at a hotel. He's going to take a new lease here when I leave."

"Is that your mom?" Garrus chimed in from the other room.

"Yeah," Jane called, squeezing her eyes shut in frustration and hoping he hadn't heard the conversation.

He poked his head in the room. "Hey Ms. Shepard," he greeted the holo, grinning that crooked grin of his.

"Hello, Garrus. I'm sure you're being courteous toward my daughter?"

Jane groaned and covered her face with her hands.

"Absolutely, Ma'am," Garrus assured Hannah. "I have nothing but respect for Jane."

"Good. Be a dear and make her leave the house every now and again."

"Will do."

* * *

She barely heard the light tapping on the door. She was laying on the tile, her shirt pulled up over her abdomen to press her fevered skin to the cool floor. She shuddered through another wave of nausea, and when the tapping resumed, she groaned in response.

"Jane? Are you okay? You've been in there for hours."

"I didn't check the label," she moaned.

"You... what?"

"The juice, in the fridge. It looked like mine. It wasn't mine."

She heard him sigh, and the door opened.

"No, you don't need to see me like this!" she cried, trying to push herself off the floor.

The movement triggered something inside her, and she inhaled deeply, resisting the urge to vomit. He was looking down at her, his eyes full of concern.

"Dextro poisoning is a bitch," she muttered weakly, sitting up and leaning against the wall.

"I have a feeling you'll be checking labels more carefully after this."

"If I survive."

"Do you want me to stay?"

She raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Aren't you freaking out because my legs are showing or whatever?"

"It's... unnerving, but I'll get over it." He paused. "Jane?"

"Yeah, Garrus?"

"You look even worse now than you did in training."

"Thanks. I'm so glad you're here to make me feel better."

"Anytime."

* * *

She was sitting in bed filling out personal information in preparation for her assignment when Garrus walked through the open bedroom door, dragging his feet, and fell pathetically onto her bed.

"How was work?"

"Exhausting," he mumbled into the comforter.

She smirked. "What happened?"

"It was my first real day. Finally got away from the desk work. Chased down some idiot selling red sand, then put the cuffs on wrong and had to chase him down again. You wouldn't believe the shit they gave me. Practically laughed me out of the office."

"I'm sorry," she replied, giving him a sympathetic pat on the back. "At least it's over now. Go get some rest, and you'll feel better tomorrow."

"Okay," he sighed, but didn't move.

She watched him for a moment. "Do you need some help up?"

"This is so comfortable," he almost whispered.

She laughed. "Sorry, buddy. It's all mine for the next few days."

She went back to her forms, but after a few minutes, he still hadn't moved.

"Garrus? Are you awake?"

He didn't reply. She leaned toward him, listening, but only heard the sound of his slow breathing. She raised a hand to wake him, but hesitated. He looked so tired; maybe she should take the couch. She frowned, contemplating. Why should she have to leave? It wasn't as if her bed was too small for them to share.

Against her better judgment, she set her datapad on the nightstand and turned off the light, crawling under the covers. Garrus had collapsed right in the middle of the bed, and even through the covers, she could feel the heat from his body. She shivered in pleasure at the sensation, then froze at the implications. No. That kind of thinking was not okay. Garrus was just her friend, and there wasn't anything weird about sharing a bed with him, right? They weren't even the same species. Who was to say anything was... compatible? _Okay, that's quite enough, Jane, _she thought firmly. She put a damper on the thoughts as best she could, trying to ignore the light movement of his breathing as sleep claimed her.

* * *

Apparently, she'd been wrong. She found the note on her coffee table, scrawled hastily onto a paper towel.

_Jane -_

_I'm so sorry. I don't know what happened. I must have passed out, and I swear I didn't mean to sleep with you. Fuck, that sounded terrible, but you know what I mean. I think it's best if I just stay at a hotel until you leave. Thanks for putting up with me this long. Again... So so sorry._

_Garrus_

She blinked a few times. Wow. She couldn't have been more wrong. The awkwardness of the note created a sort of tightness in her chest as her anxiety gnawed at her.. She'd slept so well next to him, but now she'd driven him away. In the short week they'd lived together she'd become accustomed to his presence, and the thought of not seeing him every day seemed fundamentally wrong. She cursed herself for not waking him up. Now she would be leaving on her first assignment, and from the tone of the note, she had to wonder if he would ever want to talk to her again.

* * *

(A/N): I know, it was very jumpy. I'm having a difficult time writing this for some reason.


End file.
